Manager Crew Operations

About Riyadh Air

Riyadh Air (RX), based in Saudi Arabia’s capital, is a newly launched national carrier with an ambition to redefine the future of air travel. The airline aims to help transform the Kingdom into a major aviation and trade centre and plans to connect Saudi Arabia with more than 100 destinations through a digitally native model.

About the Role

This position is responsible for steering a 24/7 crew operations function that can protect the published schedule even during disruption. The selected candidate will head Crew Control and the Crew Operations Centre, ensuring full regulatory adherence, operational stability and strong disruption response.

The role plays a key part in preserving flight schedule integrity through evidence-based decisions, effective operational leadership and close coordination with other teams. It also involves directing live responses to irregular operations, crew shortfalls and other disruptions, approving urgent deployment actions, and maintaining smooth handovers across controllers, crew operations officers and duty managers.

You will be accountable for monthly flight and cabin crew rosters, with responsibility for legality, fairness and resilience, while also improving reserve and standby coverage to keep daily operations ready. In addition, you will monitor fatigue, qualifications and forecasting requirements, and oversee FRMS compliance to ensure alignment with GACA, ICAO and company standards.

The role also includes scenario planning, proactive disruption preparation, continuous improvement work, operational governance, documentation standardisation and ongoing audit readiness. At the same time, you will manage crew-related expenditure such as utilisation, reserve efficiency, hotels and logistics, balancing service performance with budget control.

This is a senior leadership position for someone with a strong background in operational control, regulatory knowledge and workforce oversight, with the ability to deliver safe, reliable and resilient airline operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead the 24/7 Crew Control and Crew Operations Centre functions.
• Ensure all crew operations activities remain compliant with regulatory and company requirements.
• Manage response actions for irregular operations, crew shortages and other operational disruptions.
• Approve critical crew deployment decisions when timely action is required.
• Maintain continuity across shifts and ensure effective handovers between operational teams.
• Own the monthly rostering process for flight and cabin crew, ensuring fairness, legality and operational robustness.
• Optimise reserve and standby coverage to maintain day-to-day readiness.
• Monitor fatigue, qualification status and forecasting inputs to support safe planning.
• Oversee FRMS controls and compliance with GACA, ICAO and internal policy requirements.
• Develop scenario models and plan ahead for operational disruption.
• Drive process improvements, governance consistency, documentation quality and audit preparedness.
• Control crew-related costs including utilisation, reserve efficiency, accommodation and logistics.
• Work closely with cross-functional stakeholders to protect schedule integrity and operational performance.

Requirements

• A degree qualification is required.
• At least 7 years of progressive experience in aviation operations is expected.
• Background in Crew Control, Crew Planning or rostering is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of FTL, FRMS, legality requirements and airline regulatory governance is essential.
• Previous leadership experience in a 24/7 real-time operations environment is highly desirable.
• Ability to make sound decisions quickly in a live operational setting.
• Experience working across teams and handling disruption management is important.

About You

You should be a confident operations leader who can balance compliance, resilience and efficiency. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working in a high-pressure, round-the-clock environment and will bring the judgement needed to keep airline operations stable and safe.

Additional Information

This opportunity is based in the Riyadh Region and is a full-time, onsite role. The source did not specify salary, benefits, application deadline, number of vacancies or start date.

Application Note

Applicants are expected to submit their application through the employer’s application process. No external application links are included here.